FCPA Scorecard Blog
Four Businessmen and Two Mexican Government Officials Plead Guilty in Aircraft Maintenance Bribery Scheme
On December 27, the DOJ announced the unsealing of charges against four businessman and two Mexican officials involved in a scheme to secure aircraft maintenance and repair contracts with Mexican government-owned companies. Douglas Ray, Victor Hugo Valdez Pinon, Kamta Ramnarine, and Daniel Perez all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA, with Ray and Valdez Pinon separately pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Additionally, Ernesto Hernandez Montemayor and Ramiro Ascencio Nevarez, both former officials with Mexican state-owned companies, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to the DOJ, the defendants admitted that between 2006 and 2016, millions of dollars were paid to numerous Mexican government officials to secure aircraft parts and servicing contracts with Mexican government-owned companies. The defendants also admitted to laundering the proceeds of the bribery scheme. In total, Ray, Valdez Pinon, Ramnarine, and Perez paid more than $2 million in bribes to Mexican officials, including Hernandez Montemayor and Nevarez.
Navarez was sentenced in May to 15 months in prison; the remaining defendants have yet to be sentenced.